Girls track wraps up season

DOWNEY - The Downey High School girls' track team finished their team season with an overall record of 6-2 and a league record of 4-1. The lone loss was at the hands of cross-town rival Warren 69-67 in a nail-biter at the "Classic" on April 5th.The Lady Vikings competed against Lynwood and Dominguez on April 24th and took care of business by easily defeating both squads. The Lady Vikings also competed in the S.G.V.L. Finals last Friday evening and outscored Warren and Paramount 217 to 171 and 148, respectively. Several league champions were crowned for the Lady Vikings. Giovanna Dan won the triple jump with a jump of 35'9 and also the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 16.38. Freshman and former East Knight Lisa Vasquez won the 1600 meters in a time of 5:12.15. Former East Knights Sol Ochoa and Tiffany Gilmore were also crowned league champions. Ochoa pole vaulted 10'6 and Gilmore threw the discus 132'1 and the shot put 37'6, respectively. Coach Overgaauw was very pleased with her team's performance at league finals. Coach Overgaauw also stated that besides the six league titles earned, six school records were also broken with this year's talent. Sophomore Tiffany Gimore broke both the discus and shot put records at Downey. Senior Nisreen Rizk broke the 3200 meter record and Lisa Vasquez broke both the 800 and 1600 meter records. The 4X100 meter relay team of sophomore Nicole Burton, senior Nicole Holigores, junior Maria Hernandez and senior Jasmine Johnson also set a school record. Coach Overgaauw also has many athletes whom have improved substantially this season. Jocelyn Orozco in the 800 and triple jump as well as Dona Makhlouf and Kristen Edmonds in the field events have shown steady improvement. Other underclassmen returning next year include Karen Silva in distance running and Olivia Estrada in the throws. Injured Lady Vikings returning next season include Kristin Johnson in the sprints and Carlie Norczyk in the pole vault. Coach Overgauuw maintains that Warren was Downey's toughest competition this year and enjoyed watching her girls focus and perform at league finals. Overgaauw went on to say that this is the largest team she has had at Downey in ten years of coaching. She has many up-and-coming athletes who will be making an even greater impact next season. Overgauuw said that her girls "have been working very hard and it showed in the numerous broken records and by the results of most of our meets." Her athletes are now focused on C.I.F. and looking forward to qualifying for finals.

********** Published: May 10, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 04